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Compound words are notoriously difficult for people to write correctly, even in the simpler and more systematic cases involving two nouns. While the influence of English is often blamed for this problem, it is important to note that the difficulties with writing compound words correctly have been present even before English became as dominant as it is today.

The primary cause of people writing compound words as distinct words rather than as one cohesive unit is due to their difficulty in processing and recognizing the linguistic elements of the words. A compound word is made up of two or more lexical elements that are combined to form a single word with a new meaning. For example, the English word “doghouse” is composed of two lexical elements, “dog” and “house”, to form a single word with the meaning “a shelter for a dog”.

The difficulty lies in understanding the linguistic elements of each word that make up the compound word and recognizing the new meaning that is created when the words are combined. This problem is especially prominent in languages such as Finnish and Norwegian, where compound words are often longer and more complex than those in English or other languages. It is also exacerbated by the fact that compound words can be written in a variety of ways, making it difficult for people to know which way is correct.

Finally, the difficulty of recognizing and understanding compound words is further compounded by the influence of English, as people often try to mimic the way English compound words are written, without understanding the rules of their own language.